Yes, they do. They like to have social tank mates, generally that are goldfish. But you need to have enough room for them. For one goldfish you need about 20gallons and another 10 for each additional fish.

I'm a bit late to the party, but yes, goldfish do get lonely. After having kept two goldfish in my 55 gal for 7 years, one of them passed suddenly. The other languished for a few days and then died, too. He seemed to be frantically searching for his lost buddy until his last minute. When I acquired another goldfish (single goldfish in a 55 gal) he remained by a tiny mirror I'd placed on the side of the tank because he thought it was another goldfish. He only stopped this and "came out of his shell" when I added another goldfish to the tank. Now they are best buddies.

So while goldfish will be a good fishy buddy for you, they have fishy social needs (unlike betta) that do need to be fulfilled. But having other goldfish in the tank doesn't make them interact less with you. You get a whole swarm of fish greeting you instead of just one.

I'm a bit late to the party, but yes, goldfish do get lonely. After having kept two goldfish in my 55 gal for 7 years, one of them passed suddenly. The other languished for a few days and then died, too. He seemed to be frantically searching for his lost buddy until his last minute. When I acquired another goldfish (single goldfish in a 55 gal) he remained by a tiny mirror I'd placed on the side of the tank because he thought it was another goldfish. He only stopped this and "came out of his shell" when I added another goldfish to the tank. Now they are best buddies.

So while goldfish will be a good fishy buddy for you, they have fishy social needs (unlike betta) that do need to be fulfilled. But having other goldfish in the tank doesn't make them interact less with you. You get a whole swarm of fish greeting you instead of just one.

Could I keep two fancies in a 55 gal? I don't think I would ever want a tank larger than that...

Could I keep two fancies in a 55 gal? I don't think I would ever want a tank larger than that...

I have 3 goldfish in a 55gal and it's a bit of keeping up with how much they produce but if you can get a few plants to help with water quality and you don't mind vac'ing up waste ("spot cleaning") it's doable. Two should be okay in a 55 gal just be cautious with over feeding.

Register Now

In order to be able to post messages on the Betta Fish and Betta Fish Care forums, you must first register.
Please enter your desired user name, your email address and other required details in the form below.

User Name:

Password

Please enter a password for your user account. Note that passwords are case-sensitive.

Password:

Confirm Password:

Email Address

Please enter a valid email address for yourself.

Email Address:

OR

Log-in

User Name

Password

Remember Me?

Human Verification

In order to verify that you are a human and not a spam bot, please enter the answer into the following box below based on the instructions contained in the graphic.